Gun mechanism combining cap and projectile operaing means

ABSTRACT

An automatic toy gun for firing caps in rolls or strips and provided with means for automatically and intermittently feeding a belt provided with dummy cartridges and to propel one such cartridge from the gun as each percussion cap is exploded.

United States Patent 1 1 3,559,630

[72] Inventor Kenneth W. Frye [56] References Cited 2117 Lemon 51.. Alhambra, Calif. 91803 UNITED STATES PATENTS [211 P 753580 1,302,332 4/1919 DuPont 124/51x 122] Filed Aug. 19, 1968 s P. d F b 2 1971 2,729,011 1/1956 Frye 42/57 [M items e 3,141,450 7/1964 Hirsch 124/2 3,369,535 2/1968 Bonanno 124/29 54 GUN MECHANISM COMBINING CAP AND 'T f' C Pinkham PROJECTILE OPERATING MEANS ASSLSIHMZ Examiner-William R. Browne 2 Claims 5 Drawing Figs Attorney-Hyman Jackman [52] U.S. Cl 124/2,

42/57, 124/45, 124/39, 124/27 ABSTRACT: An automatic toy gun for firing caps in rolls or [5 1 Int. Cl .1 F4) 7/08 strips and provided with means for automatically and intermit- [50] Field of Search 124/2, 27, tently feeding a belt rovided with dumm cartrid es and to V P Y E 28, 29, 36, 41 30, 31, 51;42/54, 57, 87, (lnquired); 224/21, 23, 18, (lnquired) propel one such cartridge from the gun as each percussion cap is exploded.

.PATENTEB FEB 2 l9?! SHEET 1 OF 2 GUN MECHANISM COMBINING CAP AND PROJECTILE OPERATING MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Toy guns that explode caps merely produce the sounds of such percussions. Such guns provide the background of the invention, which combines with cap means the discharge of an object simulating a bullet or like projectile each time a cap is exploded In the interest of safety. such projectiles merely simulate bullets and are propelled from the bore of a barrel a short distance of a few feet to complete the illusion of normal firing of a gun.

The prior pertinent art is represented by applicants US. Pat. No 2,729,01 l, the same being herein employed to form the basis with which the present improvements are combined.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present combined mechanism has basis on an automatic cap-firing gun generally comprising a body for holding therein a roll of caps 11, means 12 to continuously intermittently feed the caps of said rolls, means 13 to successively percuss said caps, a spring-wound drive 14 to effect intermittent and rapid action of the means 13 and trigger means 15 to control the operation of the cap percussion means 12. The gun above generally described according to the invention is provided with means 16 embodied in the body 10 for guiding the movement of a cartridge belt 17 which mounts a plurality of simulated bullets 18, means 19 combined with the cap-feeding means 12 for intermittently advancing said belt, and a bullet propeller 20 combined with the means 13 for striking a bullet aligned therewith to dislodge said bullet from the belt and propel the same through and out of the end of a clearance bore 21 in the body 10 aligned with the propeller 20 each time the means 13 percusses a cap.

An object of the present invention is to provide a toy gun embodying the above generally-described organization, whereby the illusion of firing an automatic firearm is created and wherein such illusion is achieved in a safe manner suitable for harmless handling, especially by youngsters.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel toy cartridge belt adapted for safe simulation of propulsion of bul- Ietlike projectiles from a gun in which said belt is inserted.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description, which is based on the accompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a broken top plan view of a gun combining the mechanism of the present invention.-

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view as taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view as taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in plan and partly in longitudinal section, as taken substantially on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the middle portion of the gun, as in FIG. 2, showing another operative position of the parts therein shown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The body 10 includes a mechanism housing 25 formed to provide a handgrip 26 and provided with a trigger guard 27 and a barrel part 28 removably fitted thereto and provided with a transverse housing portion 29 for the means 16. Said housing 25 and part 28 are shown as connected by a pin 30 so they may be opened to allow insertion of a cap roll 11 into said housing, and releasably latched. as by catch 31. The forward portion of barrel part 28 is provided with a handgrip 32 forward of the grip 26.

The forward end of the housing 25 is provided with a bracket 33 provided with a pin 34 on which the roll of caps 11 is mounted to be freely fed rearwardly toward the cap-feeding means 12. The latter is mounted on an axle 35 and comprises a cylindrical member 36 provided with feed cogs 37 on its periphery and which engage in holes provided in the strip 38 of which the roll 11 is comprised. A strip holddown 39 is pivotally mounted at 40 so as to lightly rest on the cap strip 38 where the same engages the member 36. The holddown 39 may be raised on its pivot to allow threading of the cap strip around the cylindrical member 36 and onto the cogs 37 so that, upon rotation of the axle 35, the strip is fed by rotation of the member 36. The caps on the strip 38 are located between the holes therein and in engagement with the cylindrical face of the member 36 which serves as an anvil against which the caps are percussed and exploded.

The means 13 is mounted on a shaft 41 and is shown as a unitary member comprising a hammer 42 and a lever 43 and having a hook 44 adjacent the shaft 41. A pawl 45 is pivotally mounted on the hammer, the same being biased by a spring 46 in a downward direction so that its end has operative engagement with the teeth of a ratchet 47 affixed to the side of the anvil member 36. It will be clear that, as the means 13 is reciprocated on the axis of shaft 41 in one direction, the hammer 42 strikes a cap on the anvil while the pawl 45 is projected to a recovery position relative to the ratchet teeth and, as said means 13 is reciprocated in the opposite direction, upon depression of the end of lever 43, operative engagement of the pawl is effected with the ratchet to advance the same and the anvil, thereby feeding the strip 38 to bring the next cap on said strip in position to be percussed. A spring 48 biases the hammer 42 to strike the cap upon a sudden release of the lever 43.

The drive 14 is shown as a power spring 49 with its inner end connected to the axle 50 on which a winding knob 51 is provided. A gear 52 on said axle is provided with a set of circumferentially arranged pins 53 that, under force of spring 49, successively engage the lever 43 to cause the mentioned reciprocative movement of the hammer 42 and the mentioned sudden release resulting in percussion of the cap.

The trigger means 15 is mounted on a shaft 54 and comprises a trigger 55 enclosed in the guard 27 and a hook lever 56 that has engagement with the hook 44 under bias of a spring 57 when the trigger is released. Thus, so long as the spring 49 has energy stored therein the the trigger 55 is pulled, the hammer 42 will, with rapid reciprocations, alternately explode caps and feed the anvil member 36. Upon release of the trigger 55, the hook lever 56 will catch the hook 44 and stop the action.

The unwinding action of the spring 49 is controlled by a governor 58 that, through gearing 59, is driven by the gear 52. The governor is here shown as a fixed shoe 60, an eccentric weight 61 rotational in said shoe and driven by the spring 49 through the mentioned gearing, and a flexible member 62 affixed by one end to said weight and having a free end that, under centrifugal force, flexes outwardly into contact with the inner face of the shoe, thereby slowing the unwinding rate of spring 49 and speed of action of the hammer 42.

The foregoing represents the basic toy gun with which the present improvements are combined.

The guide means 16 of the present improvements is shown as provided in the barrel part 28, the same extending transversely of said part and being defined by a bottom wall 65 with a transverse slot 66 therethrough. front and rear side walls 67 and 68, respectively. and a top cover 69 connected by. a hinge 70 at one end of the guide means and extending across to the opposite end to enclose a space 71. The opposite end 72 of the cover 69 is formed as a finger-engageable part to facilitate raising said cover to expose the space 71. enabling placing the end of a cartridge belt 17 in position to be fed in the direction of the arrow 73 after the cover is reclosed.

The belt 17 comprises a band or tape of relatively flexible material provided with a plurality of uniformly spaced bulletholding tubes 74 arranged to be transverse of the length of the belt and preferably in close side-by-side relation. Each bullet 18 is formed with a cylindrical body 75 having a sliding fit in the tubes 74 and with a diametrically larger nose end 76. The simulated bullets 17 are loaded into the belt and the belt is assembled in the guide means 16 with the nose ends 76 of the bullets directed forwardly of the gun. In line with the bore 21 of the gun, the guide wall 65 and its joining wall 68, are provided with a slot 77 to accommodate the propeller when the same is in bullet-propelling position, as shown by the dotdash lines of HO. 5.

The means 19 is shown as a sheet metal disc 78 fixedly mounted on the axle 35 alongside the cylindrical member 36 and circumferentially divided into belt-advancing sections, each comprising a part 79 having a partial helical form, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Said parts are formed by radially shearing them from the peripheral edge of the disc toward the axle and imparting a twist to said sheared portions 79 which transversely offsets the sheared edges 80 to form transverse spaces 81. Said means 19 further comprises a plurality of feed lugs 82 that extend from the underside of the cartridge belt 17 through the slot 66 in the bottom 65, of the guide means 16. Said lugs are aligned with the respective bullet-holding tubes 74, as shown in FIG. 3, the longitudinal size thereof being such that the same may fit between the offset sheared edges 80 of the disc 78. The spaces 83 between said lugs 82 are such that the helical sheared portions 79 of the disc 78 freely pass therethrough.

It will be clear that clockwise rotation of the disc 78 with the anvil member 36 of the means 12, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 5, produces an intermittent feed of the belt 17 in the direction of the arrow 73 as the successive helical parts 79 pass through the spaces 83 to move the lugs 82 and, thereby, the belt 17 in an intermittent feed movement that brings the bullets 18 successively into register with the propeller integrally provided on the hammer 42.

The helical parts 78 of the disc 79 are so oriented and related to the intermittent percussion movement of the hammer 42 by the pins 53 of the power means and drive 14, when the trigger 55 is pressed, that a bullet I8 is brought into register with the propeller 20 and remains in such position. so that cap percussion and bullet projection are effected simultaneously.

Having thus described the invention. what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. In an automatic cap gun having means to continuously intermittently advance and feed a strip or roll of caps while engaged over a rotational anvil member, and having trigger-controlled cap-striking hammer means to successively percuss said caps during such intermittent feed movement of the strip, the combination comprising:

a. a guide passage in the body of said gun for a cartridge belt provided with a plurality of removable projectiles simulating bullets and in transverse, side-by-side arrangement;

b. a feed member mounted to move with the anvil member and adapted for operative engagement with the cartridge belt to advance the same as a cap strip engaged with the anvil member is advanced; and

c. hammer means, said hammer means comprising a hammer, an integral extension fixedly provided on the hammer to strike a projectile in register therewith to propel the same from the beltputwardly from a bore in the gun, said extension moving in unison with the hammer on movement of the latter, said hammer means engaging a strip of capssubstantially at the same time that the extension engages a projectile so as to project the latter.

2. In an automatic cap gun according to claim 1:

a. said guide passage being transversely arranged with respect to the longitudinal extend of the gun;

b. a wall defining the bottom of said passage and having a slot therein extending from end-to-end of the passage;

c. said slot being adapted to receive for movement therealong extending portions of the beltoperatively engaged with the feed member; and

d. said feed member comprising a disc means having a plurality of helically formed peripheral sections that successively engage the portions of the cartridge belt that extend through the slot in the bottom wall of the guide passage, said sections of said disc means successively engaging and camming the belt forwardly in a step wise fashion, said peripheral sections positioned transverse to the path of movement of the belt. 

1. In an automatic cap gun having means to continuously intermittently advance and feed a strip or roll of caps while engaged over a rotational anvil member, and having triggercontrolled cap-striking hammer means to successively percuss said caps during such intermittent feed movement of the strip, the combination comprising: a. a guide passage in the body of said gun for a cartridge belt provided with a plurality of removable projectiles simulating bullets and in transverse, side-by-side arrangement; b. a feed member mounted to move with the anvil member and adapted for operative engagement with the cartridge belt to advance the same as a cap strip engaged with the anvil member is advanced; and c. hammer means, said hammer means comprising a hammer, an integral extension fixedly provided on the hammer to strike a projectile in register therewith to propel the same from the belt outwardly from a bore in the gun, said extension moving in unison with the hammer on movement of the latter, said hammer means engaging a strip of caps substantially at the same time that the extension engages a projectile so as to project the latter.
 2. In an automatic cap gun according to claim 1: a. said guide passage being transversely arranged with respect to the longitudinal extend of the gun; b. a wall defining the bottom of said passage and having a slot therein extending from end-to-end of the passage; c. said slot being adapted to receive for movement therealong extending portions of the belt operatively engaged with the feed member; and d. said feed member comprising a disc means having a plurality of helically formed peripheral sections that successively engage the portions of the cartridge belt that extend through the slot in the bottom wall of the guide passage, said sections of said disc means successively engaging and camming the belt forwardly in a step wise fashion, said peripheral sections positioned transverse to the path of movement of the belt. 